Hey, all you Outer Banks snobs who wouldn't be caught dead in Ocean City: Take another look. Martini menus, eco-tourism cruises, cigar bars and amenity-heavy resorts are springing up faster than funnel cakes at Maryland's only oceanfront community. But don't worry too much, O.C. old-timers: $1.50 draft beers, half-day fishing boat trips and piles of blue crabs laid out on brown paper are still a part of the landscape.
Ocean City, with its 10 miles of beaches and nearly three miles of boardwalk, has been a favorite shore destination for D.C. residents since it was founded as a fishing village 130 years ago. Packed with affordable hotels and cheap eateries, it's traditionally attracted a blue-collar, budget-minded family crowd interested in lying on the beach, strolling the boardwalk, playing mini-golf and eating bad-for-you-but-delicious food. But lately it's been discovered by a more upscale clientele attracted by the area's wide beach, proximity to Washington, challenging golf courses and . . . bad-for-you-but-delicious food.
Drive into Ocean City one week and it'll look a little different the next: An old building will have been torn down, or a new one risen. The relentless growth has not been painless. Take a group of six out for dinner on a Friday night and you may wait three hours for a table. Want to take a run on the boardwalk? Better do it before 10 a.m., before the throngs hit. And if your goal is to laze all day on a patch of prime beach in July, better get up early to stake out your turf.
And yet, somehow, it works. When the restaurant wait is long, folks sit at the bar, order an appetizer and watch the sun set. When the boardwalk is crowded, they wend their way through with smiles, nods and excuse me's. No matter how thick the crowd, the beach stays family-friendly with enforced ordinances that prohibit drinking and excessive noise. Gristled bandanaed bikers, Docker-wearing dads, pierced and tatooed teens and Expedition-driving suburbanites easily coexist in a town where everyone's edges seem worn soft by the sun and surf.
· BEST BREAKFAST
The line to eat breakfast at General's Kitchen House of Chipped Beef starts forming early. If you're not up to a heaping plate of creamed chipped beef, the usual eggs, hash browns and bacon are also dished up by the friendly and efficient servers. Bring your baseball cap for inclusion with the hundreds of others that line the wall, and they'll exchange it for one with the restaurant's logo.
74th Street and Coastal Highway, 410-723-0477. Breakfast from $5.
HONORABLE MENTION: You'll usually find at least one of the city's finest eating a platter of eggs at the Satellite Coffee Shop (46th Street and Coastal Highway, 410-723-1426). And anyplace cops eat breakfast is a good bet.
· BEST MEAL TOURISTS DON'T KNOW ABOUT
Harborside in West Ocean City is open year-round, proof that not just tourists are eating here. The casual dining room opens to a canal where you can watch the fishing boats come and go. Get away cheap by ordering off the lunch menu, available any time. Purists would say the crab cakes have too much filler, but the thick slice of real tomato, not-too-salty french fries and $10.99 price tag, topped off with a signature Orange Crush drink and always-attentive service, make it a winner.
12841 Harbor Rd., 410-213-1846, http://www.ocharborside.com/ .
HONORABLE MENTION: Smoker's BBQ Pit (on Route 611 off Route 50, West Ocean City, 410-213-0040, http://www.smokersbbqpit.com/ ), has the best baby back ribs around -- just ask the local construction workers standing in line to get a slab.
